VIDEO: Pilot takes three landing attempts in windy Wellington

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Fri, 13 Jan 2012 6:14p.m.

A pilot struggles to land at Wellington Airport

A pilot struggles to land at Wellington Airport

Wellington was lashed with high winds today, with some gusts up to 120kmh.

Pilots trying to land at Wellington Airport struggled to steady their aircraft on approach, with one pilot taking three attempts to land.

In Queenstown low cloud meant some aircraft couldn’t land at all.

Luckily, Air New Zealand put on a jet service with navigational equipment to deal with the rough weather.

Watch the full video of a Wellington pilot’s three attempts to land.

Footage courtesy of Ziln.co.nz.

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Comments

17 Jan 2012 10:09p.m.

dave wrote:

The first plane in the clip was a Qantas Boeing 737-800. The rest were Air New Zealand Boeing 737-300s. There is no indication that all three attempts to land were by the same Air NZ aircraft. The pilots all did things skillfully and by the book. Well done guys!

17 Jan 2012 09:50a.m.

d.r.johns wrote:

I was always taught, take two attempts at landing and if the second is not successful divert to another airfield. third time is rarely lucky.

17 Jan 2012 12:38a.m.

Sofie wrote:

Just watched the video again. That 2nd attempt at landing was bloody freaky! For a moment you see the plane going down on its nose and then it just heads straight down fast!! Even as it takes off again you can see it swerving sharply. In all honesty I would have sued the airline for tormenting the passangers like that. Lets give the pilots some credit but still. Those poor passangers must have thought they were about to die - 4 times!

16 Jan 2012 10:51p.m.

alan wrote:

Thats not the same aircraft being filmed for each of the three approaches. The first one has winglets the second two don't have winglets. You cannot even be sure the the second two approaches are carried out by the same aircraft. TV3 where's your credibility.

16 Jan 2012 09:22p.m.

Tim wrote:

Luke get your hand off - YOU make it sound that the pilots don't want to go home after the flight to see their wife, their girl friend, their kids, their mum and dad. If it's within the aircraft limits and pilots are happy - then the weather has not stop your flight and believe in ANZ's t&c's you be giving up your fare. If u fly into Wellington must expect there be wind. The wind did not turn up yesterday!

16 Jan 2012 09:12p.m.

Sofie wrote:

Well they don't call it windy Wellington for nothing!! I wasn't on the plane but if I was I definately would've peed myself!! Bravo to the pilots for their successful efforts. It just goes to show how skilled these people are. And I'm sure if the situation was too dangerous they wouldn't have gotten the all clear to land from the control tower. They must know what they are doing.

16 Jan 2012 03:47p.m.

Moana (East Coast, Gisborne) wrote:

My sister & I were on Flight NZ 459 from Auck to Wgtn. If we had been notified at Auck airport about the wind gusts (which were 140kmh by the time our plane started decending to land in Wgtn) & the risks prior to boarding our plane we would have opted out & hitch hiked home. This experience was terrifying and I have been traumatised by it all. All I could think about on that awful decent/landing was, “am I going to see/touch my children again”. I would like to know why we and other passengers were not informed about the situation/wind gusts/risks occurring in Wgtn, so then we and other passengers could make our own decisions to board or opt out. Hence, it was stated by another passenger on a flight prior to ours that their plane could not land and had to return to Auck. By the time it was due to fly out to Wgtn again only half the passengers boarded.

16 Jan 2012 12:26p.m.

Evan wrote:

Those pilots demonstrated excellent judgement and skill - KUDOS MATES!!

16 Jan 2012 12:57a.m.

Fenix wrote:

Thats some wild assumptions you have there Luke, I suggest you to do research about airline company yourself and winglets blowing off?? Now thats laughable.

14 Jan 2012 05:57p.m.

Nikki wrote:

We were on a flight yesterday that aborted two landings the first one we hit the runway the next time he went around without going close to the runway and then flew back to Auckland We queued to rebook and interestingly only about half the plane load were in the queue seriously spooked passengers I'm not sure I would have wanted him to have a third go the pilot are human after all got on another flight after a sit down and a cup of tea the next pilot also struggled to get the plane down but managed it just and there was clapping when we were on the ground Landings will never be the same again Who decides when it is unwise to be landing in such gusts